And there’s the first (non-embarrassing) attempts at working with the Hunt 107 or 108 (I can’t remember which). I’ve already done several more pages with it and I do think I’m improving with every page. So you should gradually see more line control as the panels are posted. Even with the obvious timidity present in these lines I’m already much happier with them. I’m more sure now about my plan to go back and revise everything I’ve done up to this point (including the ones posted the past week) because it should make a huge difference.

And in case you noticed I hadn’t quite updated the archives of this comic on the website, I have now. It’s all there for your viewing pleasure: Gold and Blue and Gray

Anyways. Back to the mosque trip. Uh yeah so everyone was shuffling out when the speaker finished. And if anyone was curious as to the racial diversity present, there were middle-eastern (I’m hesitant to specify a country because I really don’t know which ones peeps were from) white, black…yeah. Those mainly. A few people came over to shake our hands and say hello since we were new. Nathan had told me he had talked with a couple people specifically for a while so I was surprised when the room emptied and nobody was staying to chat. I glanced over and said something about them probably being busy.

Then the guy he had mentioned from the last time he was there came back in and immediately sat down with us and started talking. Some pleasantries and whatnot but he just got right into it saying stuff like “Please, ask me anything. Don’t worry about offending.” So, taking his cue, Nathan, Kyle, and I sent a barrage of questions his way asking everything from detailed questions of how to go about praying when you haven’t memorized stuff yet (Nathan’s), when and how the quran was written and relating it to the bible (Kyle’s) and talking about my loss of faith in Christianity and explaining that I was mostly interested in the history and culture represented by Islam (mine). By the time 30 minutes had passed there were three more people sitting and talking. The speaker, some younger guy who didn’t speak English quite as well, and some older guy who didn’t say two words.

I haven’t mentioned that the entire time we were there no women were in sight. Nathan explained that the large glassed off section behind us (with frosted Islamic symbols on it) was where the women, covered in robes and hoods, of course, listened and prayed. Now, my initial reaction is one of anger, of course, keeping women in the back and out of sight and silent. Then again, Nathan had told me earlier about one of the women getting…not baptized, but something like that…and describing her as having a “really nice ass” that he was admiring through the robe. So…he kind of perpetuates the reason for all that, doesn’t he? Then again again, it kind of points out that no matter how much you try to cover up and ignore human sexuality, you never will.

I guess I’ll do a Part Three of this and talk about how incredibly nice they are and why that makes me kind of feel bad since I’m being a bit manipulative and sneaky about trying to get an interview from them.

Still not using the crow quill pen in these panels. But the update Tuesday will indeed contain the first attempts at drawing this comic in a brand new way. I’ve shown them around and all seem to agree it’s better. One friend put it a good way. He said that, when seeing them together, the same panels drawn with a tech pen look almost mechanical, like they were done on a computer. The lines with the crow quill look much livelier.

Anyway. So I met with Kyle and Nathan on Friday and we traveled to the one mosque in Spartanburg. Immediately on entering a dude shook our hands and said “Welcome brothers.” I need to clarify that I, up until a few weeks ago, was completely ignorant in the ways and history of Islam. Like, I didn’t even realize it was so related to Judaism and Christianity. So I was a bit nervous. Fear of the unknown, I guess. You just can’t always shake it. We sat in the back corner out of peoples’ way as they came in. They needed a bit of room to do their prayers which consisted of ritualistic standing and kneeling and lying down on the floor, still on their knees. As people kept coming in this dude at the front, pointing toward an altar thing, started singing or chanting all cool-like. You know, where it’s one long note and then a quick little vibrato and switching to a different note; in Arabic I guess.

Anyways some guy eventually came in and preached. At first I thought he was nervous or was forgetting what to say, then I realized he had a speech impediment. Other than that it was fairly interesting. He didn’t go into much detail about any history. It was more about “living your life” and some specific stuff like “why do we pray five times a day?” After the lesson and people started to disperse, that’s when it got much more interesting.

^that’s right. Finally bringing it back to what happened in the prologue

My biggest fear is that by the end of Chapter One (which isn’t that far away) you still won’t know what’s going on in this comic. Well, not that you won’t know what’s going on exactly, but that what has already happened doesn’t tie together for you. To me, from what I’ve written, it all ties together rather nicely and you should start to kind of get the picture of what’s going on. Like a hazy, gray area of a picture, but a recognizable picture nonetheless.

I’ve been researching modern pagan witchcraft and the occult and searching for fairly easy means by which to summon a demon. It’s all part of the documentary, see? Have I mentioned this already? Well Kyle and I approach the subject of religion secularly (is that a word?). Basically we don’t think God exists. The best way I can imagine to prove, or if not prove, than show some evidence that something is ‘going on behind the scenes,’ if you know what I mean, is to make some sort of contact with a demon or ghost. From what I’ve seen/heard/read, God doesn’t answer people directly. But the demons and ghosts sure as hell (no pun) try. So we wanted to try and scare up some nasty spirits.

Problem is I feel kind of douchey just grabbing a silly-sounding demonic ritual from the internet (which I have done) and trying it with no idea of the history behind it all. So I’m almost halfway through the book “The Triumph of the Moon: A history of modern Pagan Witchcraft” and bought “The History of Witchcraft and Demonology” by Montague Summers, who was apparently a crazy Catholic priest who also knew a shit ton of occult stuff. Oh, and since I’m only guessing the internet ritual probably won’t work, I’ve discovered through rigorous Amazon.com searches that the best source of actual pagan rituals is the book “Three Books of Occult Philosophy” by Henry Cornelius Agrippa. I could buy that as well but I happened to stumble on a completely free PDF file of it. Sooo…I don’t know. Anyways. I’ll let you know if Kyle or I are possessed any time soon. This was Friday’s update. I’ll update over the weekend or do a big one Tuesday detailing my mosque experience.

Well I found some nifty PDF’s of the release forms one would sign to give permission to the filmmaker to use the interview so they couldn’t sue later. The trick, I’d imagine, is to get them to sign it before the interview, especially if the subject is religion. I mean how could they interview a Christian preacher or Muslim without eventually getting around to obvious questions such as “do you consider women to be a lower class than men?” or “what do you think about the recent Pride March in our town?” You know, stuff that would probably piss them off. Not that they’re trying to be “controversial,” but again you can’t really talk about religion meaningfully without the hard questions. Otherwise it’s just what I call Religiasturbating.

I’m heading to the Mosque with Kyle and Nathan Friday. Out of interest and to maybe mention a documentary, see if anyone’s interested. I’ m really hoping they are because as far as I know that’s the only mosque in this town. I could ask about 100 christian churches for an interview and if they all said no I’d still have about 4,000 others I could try. So I’m not really worried about that. I’ll tell you all about the trip over the weekend (I may have to make the Friday update tomorrow since most of my time will be taken up Friday.) I realize the whole blog schedule, or blogchedule, has been fucked up this week. My bad. Anyways look for the Friday update tomorrow instead. Here’s that release form for posterity:

VIDEO DOCUMENTARY INTERVIEW RELEASE FORM

My signature below will confirm my agreement with filmmakers/photographers, _____________________________, and their legal representatives regarding the disposition of video documentary and photographs of interviews conducted with me, ___________________, on (date) ____________ for ______________________________ (title of project).

I understand that the tapes both of me and, if applicable, my property at ________________________________________, and transcripts (if transcribed) of the interview(s) will be maintained and made available indefinitely by the filmmakers/photographers for such research, production (e.g., radio, television, film festivals, World Wide Web, exhibitions, related advertisements), and educational purposes as the filmmakers/photographers shall determine.

I hereby grant, and transfer to the filmmakers/photographers all rights, title, and interest in the interview and video documentary, including without limitation the literary rights and the copyright. I hereby release filmmaker/photographer, her legal representatives and assigns, and SUNY New Paltz from all claims and liability relating to said documentary and photographs.

The filmmaker/photographer agrees to retain the integrity of the interviewee’s image and voice, neither misrepresenting the interviewee’s words nor taking them out of context.

I attest that I have voluntarily agreed to be interviewed and that this document contains the entire and complete agreement concerning the use and preservation of my interview.

It’s going to suck having to redo all these strips with a crow quill. I have to rethink my crosshatching as well. I think I could learn a thing or two from Lars Martinson. Here’s an example of his work for posterity’s sake:

The mostly parallel lines and straight up horizontal and vertical lines crisscrossing seems to work well. I’ll be trying that out. The “Wi-Fi” series will be continuing indefinitely. Not every day, mind you. Just every now and then. Basically it will be taking over the “Gold and Blue and Gay” excerpts for a while. (and it’s not because I randomly titled it “Wi-Fi?” and haven’t as of yet thought of how I’ll get that title to make sense.) Readership has dropped off quite a bit, by the way. The statistics don’t include people reading stuff from Google Reader (which Female does all the time) so I can’t really tell who’s reading from there.

Two friends of mine have declared that they will be making a documentary about religion, atheism, the occult, and amateur pro wrestling set in Spartanburg South Carolina. That is if one of them can get his act together and make some time to actually film something. One sequence requires them to drive around Spartanburg and try and get drive-by-film of nearly every christian church building they can find. So I’ll be combing over Google Maps searching for the fastest and most efficient ways to get from one building to the next. Then I thought ah fuck it, they can just pick sections of town and drive down the streets (there are innumerable church buildings around here). They are up for suggestions of documentary titles as well.

(I was poised to post a deluge of comic panels in thisspace here, then realized I don’t have them with me. So by Monday I’ll post those panels and then the new update Tuesday as well. Getting closer to the pages I’ve done with the Crow Quill Pen!)

There wasn’t much spoken between us in the bed. We didn’t really have time to talk. The passion overtook us in an instant and we were like one spirit joined in a beautiful tangle of legs, arms, and clown noses. I tried to be the sexual leader and him the follower, but something about those piercing eyes with the little clown make-up tears beneath them had me weak in the knees and I submitted to his dominant will. It was a perfect session of lovemaking. Just the right amount of rough and sweet. A butt-slap and nipple-twist here followed closely by a soft caress or kiss there. The passion and energy kept increasing, bit by bit. I could barely contain myself as we both neared the inevitable climax in a deluge of cum and ecstasy. His moans got faster, my breaths got quicker. As I reached the point of absolute bliss I looked up just in time to catch his O-face.

I want this autobiography to be completely factual. And it can’t be factual if I write things that I don’t remember. So you’ll just have to trust me on this. I have absolutely no idea how I ended up in bed with a clown. I mean the last thing I remember before that moment was the demon-possessed girl sneezing on me. Then it’s all a blur. And then I wake up in a different bed. And next to me is…well…the clown of my dreams.

His face, covered in white makeup, subtle touches of dark blue marks accentuating his rugged comedic features. His hair, just a glimpse of one SONIC ORANGE curl of hair, for the rest was hidden in a strange yet strangely enticing black bonnet he wore on his head. He was stretched out on the bed. Not one piece of clothing or strand of hair existed on what I immediately recognized as probably the perfect male body.

^Not even close

His scary smile and strong chin led my eyes down to this lean, cut torso. The rest of his body was as white as his face. I couldn’t tell if it was makeup or natural but I hardly cared. My eyes lingered for a bit on his chesticles (with more blue paint encircling each of his nipples) and down his rippling abs and cute belly button…but my breath was taken away by the sight of the size and sheer power I could feel emanating from the stark white and blue cock between his muscled thighs. It seemed to watch me wherever I moved like one of those paintings with the eyes facing forward. And I knew I was in love.